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maxious 1 #GovHack Toolkit
2 Welcome to the GovHack toolkit. This page provides all the information you need to prepare hackfest entries.
3 These tools can be used to make entries like: mobile apps, web apps, data visualisations/infographics.
4 This toolkit is open source, licenced cc-by and improvements are encouraged ...
5
6 # How to register and submit your entry
7 ## Registering your team
8 Coming Soon: how to use the website "Hacker Space" to register and find teams.
9
10 ## Preparing your submission
11
Maxious 12 You should record a 3 minute speech and mix images/text to accompany.
maxious 13 http://www.screenr.com/ and other screencasting tools allow you to demo apps.
14 To mix together clips, you can use youtube video editor http://www.youtube.com/editor or local software like http://www.videolan.org/vlmc/ or http://www.lwks.com/
15
16 You also need to submit your "source material". For an application this may be source code, for another work it might be your notes or prototypes.
17 The key thing here is that your source material demonstrates to the judges that some of the end result was your own work and that it is possible for another person to replicate that work.
18
19
20 # General References {#general-data-hacking-and-programming-references}
21
22 ## Who can be a hack day participant
Maxious 23 There are many roles you can play; coder, designer UX/graphics.
maxious 24
25 ## The basics of being a data scientist
26
27 * Have a hypothesis - even if you're making a tool/api that helps people with their questions too, remember what the objective of that is.
28 * Find the people and tools you need to prove/show/find. This rest of this page will help with the latter.
29 * Analyse and present results - were they what you expected? Do they help explain to others what you have found out?
30 Can present as a interactive data visualisation or a web/mobile application or just a infographic/motion graphics video that tells a story.
31
32 [![](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m6a65720f-300x199.gif "Data Journalism Diagram")](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m6a65720f.gif)</dt>
33 Illustration from Data Journalism Handbook, CC BY-SA 3.0</dd>
34
35 The best high level reference is the 'Understanding Data' and 'Delivering Data' chapters of the Data Journalism Handbook which is available online for free at
36 [datajournalismhandbook.org](http://datajournalismhandbook.org/)
37
38 You can learn the technical skills from scratch in Visualize This: The FlowingData Guide to Design, Visualization, and Statistics by Nathan Yau or for more advanced
39 practical advice check out Data Analysis with Open Source Tools by Philipp K. Janert
40 For further reading in this space
41 [http://flowingdata.com/2012/04/27/data-and-visualization-blogs-worth-following/](http://flowingdata.com/2012/04/27/data-and-visualization-blogs-worth-following/)
42
43
44 **Statistics**
45 [http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html](http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html)
46
47 **Programming**
48
49 Programming is valuable skill for manipulating and displaying data.
50 Basic tutorials for a variety of languages are available for free online or you can learn
51
52 interactively with websites like [http://www.codecademy.com/](http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercises/0). for JavaScript or [http://www.learnpython.org/ ](http://www.learnpython.org/)or [http://tryruby.org](http://tryruby.org/)
53
54 [https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript](https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript) - especially for web applications and visualisations, you'll need a basic understanding of JS. Common libraries like prototype or jQuery can help
Maxious 55
maxious 56 **Accessibility/User Experience**
57
58 WCAG guidelines not only make a web app accessible but make it a better experience for all users! Even if not making an app, good to consider these things to do and not do: [http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/)
59
60
Maxious 61
maxious 62 # Developer Tools For Your Computer {#developer-tools-for-your-computer}
63 No matter what kind of application you have for the data, there are many tools you can use to better collaborate and manage your project.
64
65 ### Source Control
66 Git / Subversion
67
Maxious 68 [![](img/Screenshot-at-2012-04-29-172132-300x235.png "Git Screenshot")](http://progit.org/book/)
69
maxious 70 [http://progit.org/book/](http://progit.org/book/)
71
Maxious 72 [http://svnbook.red-bean.com/](http://svnbook.red-bean.com/)
maxious 73
74 [http://tortoisesvn.net/](http://tortoisesvn.net/)
75
76 [http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/](http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/)
Alex Sadleir 77
78 ### Task Tracking -
79
80 Issue/task trackers allow you to outline the tasks required for your project and assign them to people to do.
81
82 [Trello](https://trello.com/) and [Workflowy](https://workflowy.com/) are free, lightweight project management tools suitable for a rapid project!
83
84 ## Hosted Developer Tools {#hosted-developer-tools}
85
86 Can get many tools (source control, issue tracking) combined into one service cloud hosted so no setup required.
87
88 ### Github
89 Git obviously but svn/hg interfaces are possible. Provide their own GUI for Windows/OSX or use the variety of Git capable tools
90
91 ### Sourceforge
92
93 Subversion, Git, Mercurial, Bazaar, CVS, issue tracker, wiki, release file downloads. Unlimited free use for open source projects.
Maxious 94
95 You can create your own Sourceforge project at [http://sourceforge.net/](http://sourceforge.net/)
Alex Sadleir 96
97 ### Google Code Project Hosting
98
Maxious 99 Git, Mercurial, and Subversion code. Issue tracker, wiki, release file downloads. Unlimited free use for open source projects.
100
Alex Sadleir 101 You can host your Google Code project and get access to developer tools, APIs and documentation at [http://code.google.com/](http://code.google.com/)
Maxious 102
103 # Applications of data hacking
104
105 ## API Development {#api-development}
106
107
108 So an API isn't just an XML file ![;)](http://www.govhack.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
109
110 A good web based data API:
111
112 * Is logically organised
113 * Can filter returned data
114 * Can return results in different open formats (CSV/JSON etc.)
115 * Is efficient and responsive by using caching and databases appropriately
116 * Handles errors gracefully
117 * Monitors and controls access (to show benefit realised of API and prevent abuse)
118 * Provides appropriate documentation with examples
119
Maxious 120 Some people like sensis [http://](http://developers.sensis.com.au/)[developers.sensis.com.<wbr>au</wbr>](http://developers.sensis.com.au/)[/](http://developers.sensis.com.au/) use a provider like[http://](http://mashery.com/)[mashery.com](http://mashery.com/)[/](http://mashery.com/) or [https](https://apigee.com/)[://](https://apigee.com/)[apigee.com](https://apigee.com/) or [http://](http://apiaxle.com/)[apiaxle.com](http://apiaxle.com/)[/](http://apiaxle.com/) or [http://www.3scale.net/](http://www.3scale.net/) which handles making a good API for them.
121
122 Atlassian have a great page on what makes a good API https://developer.atlassian.com/display/REST/Atlassian+REST+API+Design+Guidelines+version+1)
123
124 howto.gov api resources about choosing SOAP vs. REST etc. http://www.howto.gov/mobile/apis-in-government
125
126 API documentation is important too.
127 - WSDL or http://swagger.wordnik.com/ or https://github.com/mashery/iodocs
128 - Many web app frameworks can generate the documentation for you. For example Symfony for PHPhttp://symfony.com/ https://github.com/FriendsOfSymfony/FOSRestBundle http://williamdurand.fr/2012/08/02/rest-apis-with-symfony2-the-right-way/ https://github.com/nelmio/NelmioApiDocBundle better apis https://github.com/liip/LiipHelloBundle
129 - or for Rails https://github.com/elc/rapi_doc https://github.com/Pajk/apipie-rails
Maxious 130
131 http://amberonrails.com/building-stripes-api/
Alex Sadleir 132
133 example WeatherTree weather API
134
135
136 ## Infographics and Data Visualisation {#data-visualisation}
137
138 Infographics try to contextualise charts and graphs to tell a story. Data vis builds on this to find new ways to design insight.
139
140 Most of the categories to follow have visualisation tools specific to their purpose.
141
142 You can find some data visualisation tools below:
143
Maxious 144 [http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2011/07/part-6-the-essential-collection-of-visualisation-resources/](http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2011/07/part-6-the-essential-collection-of-visualisation-resources/)
145
146 Also check out [http://thejit.org](http://thejit.org/) &amp; [http://www.senchalabs.org/<wbr>philogl/</wbr>](http://www.senchalabs.org/philogl/) (contributed by Matt Adcock)
147
148 Have to use visual art concepts, good color schemes http://www.r-bloggers.com/the-paul-tol-21-color-salute/
Maxious 149
Alex Sadleir 150
151 - https://graphics.stanford.edu/wikis/cs448b-12-fall/ data viz theory
152 - http://drawingbynumbers.org/toolsandresources
153
154 examples - http://sunfoundation.tumblr.com/
155 ## The Open Budget
156
157 tools - http://selection.datavisualization.ch/ data viz tools catalog
158
159 ## Web Applications
160
161 With the rise of HTML5 technologies it is easier than ever to make a web application for engaging use of data.
162
163 - css framework like bootstrap or zurb foundation
164 - css gauges http://www.larentis.eu/donuts/
165 - bootstrap themes, web fonts, css sprites, icon fonts
166 - http://designmodo.com/flat-free/ http://designmodo.github.com/Flat-UI/
maxious 167
168 ### Examples
169
170
171 ## PlanningAlerts
172
173 [![Planning Alerts Screenshot](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_2f0199ff1-300x221.png "Planning Alerts Screenshot")](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_2f0199ff1.png)Description: Planning Alerts takes data from local government development applications and sends alerts to users based on what applications are lodged in their area.
174
175 Programming Language: Ruby
176
177 Source Control: [Git](https://github.com/openaustralia/planningalerts-app)
178
179 Issue Tracking: [Atlassian JIRA](http://tickets.openaustraliafoundation.org.au/browse/PA/)
180
181 ## LobbyLens
182
183 [![](img/129-Screenshot-LobbyClue_-_Chromium-300x180.png "LobbyLens screenshot")](img/129-Screenshot-LobbyClue_-_Chromium.png)
184
185 Description: Displays connections between government contracts, business details, politician responsibilities, lobbyists, clients of lobbyists, political donors and the location of these entities.
186
187 Programing Language: PHP
188
Alex Sadleir 189 Source Control: SVN (Subversion)
190
191 Issue Tracking: A whiteboard